Death of a Syllabub

Bookseller Corrie Malloy is minding her own business at the Founders' Dinner when the dean's wife dies between the syllabub and the coffee. The college calls it a heart attack. The coroner calls it aconite. The dean calls Corrie, because her late husband used to do this sort of thing and Corrie has a bad habit of being right. With the centenary fundraiser three weeks out and the endowment mysteriously six figures short, Corrie follows the dessert course back to the home-economics kitchen, the herb garden and the college's second set of ledgers. Olivia had found the discrepancy, and someone read her notes. Between customers and the cat, Corrie discovers that a small college has very large appetites — and that the safest way to catch a poisoner is to seat every suspect exactly where they sat the first time and serve the syllabub again. A wry Claire Malloy mystery of desserts, deans and very bad dinner parties.